Happy 4th!

Here is the lost video footage of a 4th of July at Lake Herman, oh so many years ago. Each year, the people who live near the lake get together and put on their own parade. In a counterintuitive move this particular year, the theme was "All the Other Holidays!"

Unfortunately my memory is as blurry as the video resolution, so I can't make out the theme of every float. The first few are confusing but after the guy walking the dog there seems to be the heart covered box denoting Valentine's day, followed by the Grim Reaper driving a tractor with a wagon filled with babies. Next is an Easter Bunny, but I have no idea what the float after that is commemorating...there seems to be a flag on it, so I assume it must be Flag Day. After the Thanksgiving Turkey, we see my personal favorite...an emaciated Santa hanging by his wrists in a pumpkin patch. The penultimate float seems to be another tribute to Flag day (why do the people of Madison love flag day so?) Our hosts tell us that the guy in the cowboy hat at the very end usually figures out a reason to dress in drag for every parade...for reasons that remain unclear, he decided to 'butch-up' for this parade. (I can only imagine that the overall quality of the celebration suffered because of it.)

I know that I was not alone in witnessing this 'live and in person.'' So if Roxy can remember any more details from this fine day, please elaborate in the comments section!

It's a Tractor Hoedown!

Allegedly this is the final year for these square dancing tractors after decades of performances at Yankton's Riverboat days. I can't believe that they didn't start training wee lil' garden tractors to take over for the next generation of this pagentry . (Thanks to Lance at R-Pizza for the video footage)

Wild S.D.

Since Mully put out the call for images from exotic locales, I thought you might like to see a wedding dance in the wilds of Howard, S.D. Vogue-ing among the farmers:

Observing the use of farm implements in wedding celebrations:

Note the tribal dances:

The other main activity is leaning against pickups in the parking lot, drinking beer out of coolers and shootin' the shit. These traditions are unchanged through history and are passed down from farmer to farmer. Quite exciting to observe them up close!